1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus and an information processing method for executing sequential processing including plural processing processes, and also relates to a program capable of executing information processing.
2. Description of the Related Art
The present commercial printing industries are typically based on a print-ordering system capable of receiving, from clients, print requests for various products (e.g., magazines, newspapers, catalogs, advertisements, and gravures), creating printed products requested by the clients, and delivering the printed products to respective clients.
The commercial printing industries generally use large-scale printing apparatuses, such as offset printing machines, to perform various processes including document entry, design and/or layout, comprehensive layout (print output for presentation), correction (layout correction and color correction), proof print, camera-ready block copy creation process, printing process, post-processing process, and delivery.
The camera-ready block copy creation is inevitably required when the above-described printing machines are used. Once a camera-ready block copy is created, correcting the block copy is not easy and the cost increases because a careful proof work (i.e., check of layout and confirmation of color) is required. As described above, the conventional printing industries use large-scale apparatuses and require a long time to finish a print product requested by each client. Furthermore, each work requires expertise information (i.e., know-how of expert).
On the other hand, highly-advanced technologies of recent electrophotographic printing apparatuses and inkjet printing apparatuses can realize the print on demand (hereinafter, referred to as POD) market comparable to the printing service provided by the conventional printing industries.
The POD system is useful in processing a relatively large number of print jobs in a short period of time without using large-scale apparatuses and systems. The POD system can utilize best performances of digital image forming apparatuses, such as digital copying machines and digital multifunction peripherals, to obtain a digital print of electronic data which cannot be realized by the above-described conventional printing system using large-scale printing machines or printing methods. According to the POD system, management and control of printing processes can be greatly digitized and computerized compared to the conventional printing system.
Furthermore, the POD system can use a workflow including plural processing processes (e.g., pre-print process, print process, and post-print process) required for outputting a print result. The printing system can execute the print processing according to the workflow and can efficiently obtain a print result requested by a client (orderer).
According to a method for automatically creating a workflow discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2004-164570, a workflow creation apparatus holds environment information (e.g., output conditions including attribute values of a final output product, workflow creation rules stored beforehand, presence of processing modules, and designation of computers that can execute respective processing modules).
However, according to the method discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2004-164570, the security level is not taken into consideration although a workflow for obtaining a final output product can be automatically created.
For example, if a created workflow includes a print process and a post-print process, the system executes the post-print process after accomplishing the print process. A print apparatus and a post-print processing apparatus may be physically spaced far from each other. A worker is required to manually move or shift a print product from the print apparatus to the post-print processing apparatus. In this case, leakage of information may occur due to loss of the print product. Furthermore, delivery of a print product is required if the print apparatus and the post-print processing apparatus are not placed on the same floor or in the same site. In such a case where a print product needs to be physically delivered from one location to another, the leakage of information is more likely to occur.